F1 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX LIVE: RACE START TIME, SCHEDULE AND UPDATES AS MAX VERSTAPPEN STARTS ON POLE

F1 AUSTRIAN GRAND PRIX - LATEST UPDATES

• The race in Austria starts at 2pm (BST)
• Max Verstappen is on pole position in Austria; Norris 2nd; Russell 3rd
• Click HERE for the starting grid
• Max Verstappen won sprint race in Austria; Piastri 2nd; Norris 3rd
• Click HERE for the top-eight in the sprint race

Austrian Grand Prix race odds!

Austrian GP winner

• Max Verstappen - 1/6
• Lando Norris - 9/2
• George Russell - 20/1
• Oscar Piastri - 28/1
• Carlos Sainz - 40/1
• Lewis Hamilton - 40/1
• Charles Leclerc - 66/1
• Sergio Perez - 100/1
• Nico Hulkenberg - 500/1
• Esteban Ocon - 1000/1
• Daniel Ricciardo - 1500/1
• Kevin Magnussen - 1500/1
• Pierre Gasly - 1500/1
• Fernando Alonso - 2000/1
• Lance Stroll - 2000/1
• Yuki Tsunoda - 2000/1
• Alex Albon - 2500/1
• Valterri Bottas - 3000/1
• Guanyu Zhou - 4000/1
• Logan Sargeant - 4000/1

Odds provided by BonusCodeBets

Starting grid for the Austrian Grand Prix:

1. Max Verstappen

2. Lando Norris

3. George Russell

4. Carlos Sainz

5. Lewis Hamilton

6. Charles Leclerc

7. Oscar Piastri

8. Sergio Perez

9. Nico Hulkenberg

10. Esteban Ocon

11. Daniel Ricciardo

12. Kevin Magnussen

13. Pierre Gasly

14. Yuki Tsunoda

15. Fernando Alonso

16. Alex Albon

17. Lance Stroll

18. Valtteri Bottas

19. Logan Sargeant

20. Zhou Guanyu

Mercedes told no criminal offence committed over Lewis Hamilton ‘sabotage’ email

Mercedes have been told no criminal offences were committed after the British-based Formula One team called on police to investigate an anonymous email which claimed Lewis Hamilton’s car was being “sabotaged”.

Speaking at the recent Spanish Grand Prix, team principal Toto Wolff vowed to go “full force” in response to the correspondence – said to be sent by a disgruntled Mercedes staff member – titled “a potential death warrant for Lewis”.

The email, addressed to Wolff, F1 boss Stefano Domenicali, FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem, as well as other major players in the paddock, arrived on June 10, a day after the Canadian Grand Prix – a race where Hamilton was overtaken by team-mate George Russell on the penultimate lap.

Mercedes reported the note to authorities 48 hours later.

Full story below:

Mercedes told no criminal offence committed over Lewis Hamilton ‘sabotage’ email

Red Bull boss Christian Horner on Daniel Ricciardo’s future:

“I think anything regarding drivers are going to be dealt with in-house before we talk to the media about it,” he said.

“They’re all Red Bull racing drivers and every Red Bull driver knows that there’s always a pressure, that there’s always a scrutiny but Daniel is in the seat and it’s down to him to make the most of that and then it’s always, as we see in Formula 1, things are always fluid.”

Max Verstappen fires back at British Grand Prix chief: ‘It’s not my fault’

Max Verstappen insists the promoters of the British Grand Prix need to “look at themselves” and not blame Red Bull for the slow uptake of tickets to this year’s race at Silverstone.

Verstappen won last year’s race – his first British GP triumph – and in total won 19 out of 22 grands prix in 2023, a record amount.

Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle stated last week that Red Bull’s ultra-domination in 2023 has contributed to tickets not yet selling out for this year’s event on 5-7 July.

Max Verstappen fires back at British Grand Prix chief: ‘It’s not my fault’

George Russell after qualifying third:

“The car feels really good, we’ve got a fight on our hands with Ferrari, McLaren bit ahead, but good progress with us.

“Happy to be in P3, we compromised qualifying a little bit to help the race tomorrow, McLaren have the edge of us. Third race in a row for top three in qualifying.

“Verstappen and Norris were pretty dicey in the sprint race so hopefully I can sneak through on the inside but I think our race will be behind us unfortunately.”

What time does the F1 start today?

(All times BST)

Sunday 30 June

• Race: 2pm

How can I watch it online and on TV?

The Austrian Grand Prix will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom - and ESPN in the United States. Sky’s coverage of Sunday’s race starts at 12:30pm (BST).

Highlights in the UK will be aired on free-to-air Channel 4; at 6:30pm (BST) on Sunday evening for the race.

Sky Sports subscribers can watch all the action in Spielberg on the Sky Go app. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

Constructors’ Championship after the sprint race:

1. Red Bull - 339 points

2. Ferrari - 276 points

3. McLaren - 250 points

4. Mercedes - 159 points

5. Aston Martin - 58 points

6. RB - 28 points

7. Alpine - 8 points

8. Haas - 7 points

9. Williams - 2 points

10. Sauber - 0 points

Oscar Piastri on deleted Q3 lap time:

“For me, it’s embarrassing. We do all this work for track limits and I didn’t even go off the track, probably my best turn 6 and it gets deleted. I don’t know why they’ve spent millions on the final two corners and there’s still somewhere you can go off with track limits.

“I was right on the limit of the track, we’ve had so much effort trying to get rid of these problems, there’s no reason this corner should be an issue with track limit when you stay on the track, which I did.”

“Max looked to be on another level, we’ll try our best. We saw in the sprint the tyres were overheating quickly, makes life tough but we’ll try our best.”

Piastri now starts from P7...

Here’s where Max Verstappen was superior to Lando Norris!

The Red Bull driver beat his man by over four-tenths of a second in qualifying!

Driver Standings after the sprint race yesterday:

1. Max Verstappen - 227 points

2. Lando Norris - 156 points

3. Charles Leclerc - 150 points

4. Carlos Sainz - 120 points

5. Sergio Perez - 112 points

6. Oscar Piastri - 94 points

7. George Russell - 86 points

8. Lewis Hamilton - 73 points

9. Fernando Alonso - 41 points

10. Yuki Tsunoda - 19 points

11. Lance Stroll - 17 points

12. Daniel Ricciardo - 9 points

13. Oliver Bearman - 6 points

14. Nico Hulkenberg - 6 points

15. Pierre Gasly - 5 points

16. Esteban Ocon - 3 points

17. Alex Albon - 2 points

18. Kevin Magnussen - 1 point

19. Zhou Guanyu - 0 points

20. Valtteri Bottas - 0 points

21. Logan Sargeant - 0 points

Start time today for Austrian Grand Prix:

(All times BST)

Sunday 30 June

• Race: 2pm

How can I watch it online and on TV?

The Austrian Grand Prix will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom - and ESPN in the United States. Sky’s coverage of Sunday’s race starts at 12:30pm (BST).

Highlights in the UK will be aired on free-to-air Channel 4; at 6:30pm (BST) on Sunday evening for the race.

Sky Sports subscribers can watch all the action in Spielberg on the Sky Go app. If you’re not a Sky customer you can grab a NOWTV Day Pass here to watch without a subscription.

F1 Austrian Grand Prix LIVE:

Good morning and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring!

It’s been a weekend dominated by one man so far: Max Verstappen won the sprint race after qualifying on pole and will start today’s grand prix from the front too after a cracking final lap in Q3, beating Lando Norris in second by four-tenths.

Norris will be eyeing a quick start though, with George Russell in third and Carlos Sainz in fourth - as four different teams make up the top-four places.

Stay right here for all the build-up - lights out is at 2pm! (BST)

Lando Norris reflects on Max Verstappen masterclass after Austria qualifying

Lando Norris said Max Verstappen was “in a league of his own” after the Red Bull driver obliterated his rivals to take pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix.

On Red Bull’s home turf in Spielberg, and cheered on by 40,000 travelling Dutch fans, Verstappen produced a scintillating lap of the shortest track on the Formula One calendar to finish an eye-watering 0.404 seconds clear of McLaren’s Norris, with George Russell third for Mercedes, half-a-second back. Carlos Sainz took fourth, one place ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

The build-up to the 11th round has been dominated by Jos Verstappen’s row with Christian Horner following the former’s withdrawal from a parade of the sport’s legends ahead of Sunday’s 71-lap race.

Full report below:

Lando Norris reflects on Max Verstappen masterclass after Austria qualifying

Lewis Hamilton optimistic ahead of tomorrow’s grand prix

Here’s how close Piastri was!

Oscar Piastri on deleted lap time:

“For me, it’s embarrassing. We do all this work for track limits and I didn’t even go off the track, probably my best turn 6 and it gets deleted. I don’t know why they’ve spent millions on the final two corners and there’s still somewhere you can go off with track limits.

“I was right on the limit of the track, we’ve had so much effort trying to get rid of these problems, there’s no reason this corner should be an issue with track limit when you stay on the track, which I did.”

“Max looked to be on another level, we’ll try our best. We saw in the sprint the tyres were overheating quickly, makes life tough but we’ll try our best.”

Here’s Charles Leclerc’s moment at the end of Q3!

George Russell after qualifying third:

“The car feels really good, we’ve got a fight on our hands with Ferrari, McLaren bit ahead, but good progress with us.

“Happy to be in P3, we compromised qualifying a little bit to help the race tomorrow, McLaren have the edge of us. Third race in a row for top three in qualifying.

“Verstappen and Norris were pretty dicey in the sprint race so hopefully I can sneak through on the inside but I think our race will be behind us unfortunately.”

Lando Norris after qualifying second:

“It’s as much as we could do today, Max in a league of his own today. It’s good enough, I’ll take it.

“When you look at the pace today, we’re going to have to give it a lot and something to go our way. I’ll do a better job this morning for sure, usually we’re better in the races than for qualifying.”

Max Verstappen on pole:

“The car felt a lot better today, every run was on point, it was very good out there.

“It’s been a while since we were on pole, the car have been working really hard to make the car more competitive, hopefully we can have a good race.

“It’s always nice to race, hopefully will be a good battle tomorrow but very happy with how the car was performing today.”

TOP-10 IN AUSTRIAN GP QUALIFYING:

1. Max Verstappen

2. Lando Norris

3. George Russell

4. Carlos Sainz

5. Lewis Hamilton

6. Charles Leclerc

7. Oscar Piastri

8. Sergio Perez

9. Nico Hulkenberg

10. Esteban Ocon

Oscar Piastri loses third place!

Track limits violation from Oscar Piastri and he loses third place!

That puts Russell up to third and Piastri drops to seventh!

Max Verstappen on pole for the Austrian Grand Prix!

Verstappen goes even quicker and is on pole position by four-tenths to Lando Norris, who pips Oscar Piastri!

4-10: Russell, Sainz, Hamilton, Leclerc, Perez, Hulkenberg, Ocon

Leclerc had a pretty big off on his final lap and heads into the gravel at turn six!

Verstappen: “On fire in qualifying, car was really strong!”

Lewis Hamilton under investigation after the session

The Mercedes driver ran over a car jack as he left the garage prior to his first lap - and the Brit has been noted for an unsafe release.

Anyway, three minutes to go - fresh tyres everywhere ahead of the final laps of quaifying!

Max Verstappen quickest out of first set of laps!

It’ll take some beating this! Verstappen top with a 1:04:426, three-tenths quicker than Lando Norris in second and over half-a-second faster than George Russell in third!

4-10: Leclerc, Piastri, Hamilton, Sainz, Perez, Ocon, Hulkenberg

5:00 to go...

Q3 underway!

Here we go then!

10 drivers involved: Verstappen, Perez, Norris, Piastri, Sainz, Leclerc, Hamilton, Russell, Hulkenberg, Ocon

Verstappen the huge favourite - can anyone topple him?!

Gravel at turn six resulting in delay to Q3!

The marshals just using a hoover to blow away the gravel off turn six - that was caused by Pierre Gasly going wide!

Daniel Ricciardo out in Q2!

So close but so far for Ricciardo - he’s out in P11 and misses out on Q3 by 0.010 seconds!

Bottom-five and out in Q2 (11-15): Ricciardo, Magnussen, Gasly, Tsunoda, Alonso

Hulkenberg and Ocon sneak through to Q3...

Top-3: Verstappen, Sainz, Russell

Max Verstappen up top by some distance!

Verstappen sets the stopwatch alight with a 1:04:557, 0.439 secs ahead of Carlos Sainz in second!

Hamilton in a slight spot of bother in P8...

Current bottom-five (11-15): Gasly, Tsunoda, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Alonso

Three minutes to go...

Charles Leclerc top early on in Q2!

Only four cars out there from the green light but that includes both Ferraris - and Charles Leclerc is first with a 1:05:532, while Ocon and Gasly separate Leclerc from his team-mate Carlos Sainz.

Sainz: “I picked up a lot of bouncing on that lap.”

Q2 underway!

So we’ve lost both Williams cars, both Sauber cars and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll as we head into the second part of qualifying.

You feel like there’s work to do here for both Mercedes cars as well as the Red Bull of Sergio Perez... but we shall see!

Lance Stroll out!

Fernando Alonso escapes by the skin of his teeth but his team-mate Lance Stroll doesn’t - he’s out!

Bottom-five and out in Q1 (16-20): Albon, Stroll, Bottas, Sargeant, Zhou

Hamilton ended up in P7, on new tyres; “Ah, I’m just slow mate.”

Lewis Hamilton in trouble!

Much like sprint qualifying yesterday, Hamilton in trouble in the first stage of qualifying!

He is now P16 - 0.017 secs off Yuki Tsunoda in 15th.

Current bottom-five (16-20): Hamilton, Stroll, Hulkenberg, Sargeant, Zhou

Hamilton has only done one lap, whereas most of the grid have done two. He’ll have to use their new batch of soft tyres..

George Russell goes fastest!

Mercedes impressing early on!

Russell, who qualified fourth for the sprint, goes top halfway through Q1 with a time of 1:05:614, two tenths clear of Charles Leclerc in second.

As for Lewis Hamilton? P7

Current bottom-five (16-20): Bottas, Sargeant, Alonso, Gasly, Stroll

Max Verstappen down in P6

Pole-sitter in sprint qualifying and the winner of the sprint race earlier, but not top dog after the first laps in Q1.

Verstappen down in sixth, 0.153 secs off Leclerc up top.

Charles Leclerc quickest out of early laps!

Leclerc first, 0.009 secs ahead of Norris, with Piastri P3 and Tsunoda P4!

Around six cars yet to set a lap - both Mercedes cars have opted not to leave the garage early on.

Q1 underway!

We’re underway with the first qualifying session under the summer sun in the Styrian mountains!

Max Verstappen the favourite ahead of the McLarens...

Here are the Driver Standings heading into qualifying!

1. Max Verstappen - 227 points

2. Lando Norris - 156 points

3. Charles Leclerc - 150 points

4. Carlos Sainz - 120 points

5. Sergio Perez - 112 points

6. Oscar Piastri - 94 points

7. George Russell - 86 points

8. Lewis Hamilton - 73 points

9. Fernando Alonso - 41 points

10. Yuki Tsunoda - 19 points

11. Lance Stroll - 17 points

12. Daniel Ricciardo - 9 points

13. Oliver Bearman - 6 points

14. Nico Hulkenberg - 6 points

15. Pierre Gasly - 5 points

16. Esteban Ocon - 3 points

17. Alex Albon - 2 points

18. Kevin Magnussen - 1 point

19. Zhou Guanyu - 0 points

20. Valtteri Bottas - 0 points

21. Logan Sargeant - 0 points

Red Bull boss Christian Horner on Daniel Ricciardo’s future:

“I think anything regarding drivers are going to be dealt with in-house before we talk to the media about it,” he said.

“They’re all Red Bull racing drivers and every Red Bull driver knows that there’s always a pressure, that there’s always a scrutiny but Daniel is in the seat and it’s down to him to make the most of that and then it’s always, as we see in Formula 1, things are always fluid.”

Can Ferrari improve in qualifying?

And here are the Constructors’ Standings after the sprint race:

1. Red Bull - 339 points

2. Ferrari - 276 points

3. McLaren - 250 points

4. Mercedes - 159 points

5. Aston Martin - 58 points

6. RB - 28 points

7. Alpine - 8 points

8. Haas - 7 points

9. Williams - 2 points

10. Sauber - 0 points

Mercedes told no criminal offence committed over Lewis Hamilton ‘sabotage’ email

Mercedes have been told no criminal offences were committed after the British-based Formula One team called on police to investigate an anonymous email which claimed Lewis Hamilton’s car was being “sabotaged”.

Speaking at the recent Spanish Grand Prix, team principal Toto Wolff vowed to go “full force” in response to the correspondence – said to be sent by a disgruntled Mercedes staff member – titled “a potential death warrant for Lewis”.

The email, addressed to Wolff, F1 boss Stefano Domenicali, FIA president Mohammed ben Sulayem, as well as other major players in the paddock, arrived on June 10, a day after the Canadian Grand Prix – a race where Hamilton was overtaken by team-mate George Russell on the penultimate lap.

Mercedes reported the note to authorities 48 hours later.

Full story below:

Mercedes told no criminal offence committed over Lewis Hamilton ‘sabotage’ email

Start times this weekend in Austria:

(All times BST)

Saturday 29 June

• Qualifying: 3pm

Sunday 30 June

• Race: 2pm

Here are the Driver Standings heading into qualifying!

1. Max Verstappen - 227 points

2. Lando Norris - 156 points

3. Charles Leclerc - 150 points

4. Carlos Sainz - 120 points

5. Sergio Perez - 112 points

6. Oscar Piastri - 94 points

7. George Russell - 86 points

8. Lewis Hamilton - 73 points

9. Fernando Alonso - 41 points

10. Yuki Tsunoda - 19 points

11. Lance Stroll - 17 points

12. Daniel Ricciardo - 9 points

13. Oliver Bearman - 6 points

14. Nico Hulkenberg - 6 points

15. Pierre Gasly - 5 points

16. Esteban Ocon - 3 points

17. Alex Albon - 2 points

18. Kevin Magnussen - 1 point

19. Zhou Guanyu - 0 points

20. Valtteri Bottas - 0 points

21. Logan Sargeant - 0 points

Max Verstappen fires back at British Grand Prix chief: ‘It’s not my fault’

Max Verstappen insists the promoters of the British Grand Prix need to “look at themselves” and not blame Red Bull for the slow uptake of tickets to this year’s race at Silverstone.

Verstappen won last year’s race – his first British GP triumph – and in total won 19 out of 22 grands prix in 2023, a record amount.

Silverstone managing director Stuart Pringle stated last week that Red Bull’s ultra-domination in 2023 has contributed to tickets not yet selling out for this year’s event on 5-7 July.

Max Verstappen fires back at British Grand Prix chief: ‘It’s not my fault’

Christian Horner has said the following about Toto Wolff’s pursuit of Max Verstappen

Asked why Wolff continues to speak about Verstappen, Horner replied: “That’s a question you would have to ask Toto. Max was pretty resolute in what he said in this conference [on Thursday].

“He’s always been absolutely consistent with that with the team. I think it’s purely a tactic of distraction.

“If he does want a Verstappen for next year then I guess Jos is potentially available.”

Lando Norris after finishing third:

“A good race between us, especially with Max at the beginning. Definitely some things I should have done better in my battle, I understand that, had a good battle trying to get past Oscar - the speed you lose in the dirty air.

“It was too difficult to get past, Max was too quick. Made the move and then left the door open like an amateur.”

TOP-8 IN THE AUSTRIA GP SPRINT:

1. Max Verstappen (+8 points)

2. Oscar Piastri (+7)

3. Lando Norris (+6)

4. George Russell (+5)

5. Carlos Sainz (+4)

6. Lewis Hamilton (+3)

7. Charles Leclerc (+2)

8. Sergio Perez (+1)